2024學年「設計原理應用：細木鑲嵌」短期課程回顧

From 8-19 July, the course “Design Principles Applied to Wood Products：Marquetry with Veneers” taught by Tutor Joachim Tantau was delivered online at KFSTA China Centre.

This two-week course introduces students to the craft of marquetry – wood veneer decoration. Marquetry techniques have been used extensively in Europe, India and the Middle East to decorate wooden items of different scales, from tables to musical instruments to small boxes.

This technique achieves intricate designs ranging from geometric patterns to floral motifs. It is sometimes further embellished with inlay of bone, mother of pearl or silver. Today, veneer is still used to add rich and precious elements to beautifully designed contemporary objects. Students on this short course will learn all the design and craft techniques necessary to translate a pattern - a geometry or a floral motif - into a marquetry panel and then, a wooden box.

In the first week, our expert tutor and carpenter Joachim Tantau introduced different marquetry craft techniques and application to the students, guided them to appreciate and discern the key differences of different types of wood, and learn about specific hand tools, their functions and utilization. Students on this short course also learned and understood the diversity of material usage and expression from technical aspects as well as aesthetics aspects.

In this week's course, students not only learned about the theoretical knowledge of marquetry, but also had their first attempt of marquetry focusing on geometric patterns. To achieve more aesthetic effects, such as different brightness, shadows and chiaroscuro, students explored and selected natural coloured veneers from different trees, did their own art experiment by skillfully matching them via fine cutting and gluing. Starting from cutting veneer pieces by chisel and scalpel, students managed to product their own decorative marquetry patterns.

In the course, students has mastered the technical knowledge and principles, and most importantly, have learned about the remarkable wisdom and perseverance of marquetry craftsman.

During the second week, students completed their own marquetry pieces from concept design to polishing and finishing, using their artistic imagination.

During the class, students inlaid their marquetry pattern onto the surface of the wooden boxes, and eventually completed a series of beautiful artworks.

During the whole course, Tutor Joachim paid close attention to every detail of student's work and personally demonstrated the marquetry skills to give an all-way guidance. With tutor Joachim's remote guidance, our students learned about the different interpretations and expressions of marquetry techniques by hands-on practice.

Not only that, our students also contributed what they knew and asked a lot of in-depth questions. Beyond teaching, there was a lot of interaction and exchange of knowledge,  providing opportunities for the exchange of ideas and practices between Chinese and western cultures.